


Lessons in Self Defense

by misura



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 23:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1099688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The problem, Felicity liked to think, wasn't that she wasn't ready to prove herself a modern, independent young woman capable of kicking anyone's ass for mistaking her for an easy victim.</p><p>The problem was that she knew it was Oliver.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lessons in Self Defense

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyrieanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyrieanne/gifts).



> this is probably one of my favorite tropes, so when you mentioned it in your request, I just couldn't resist writing you a treat. I hope you will enjoy it!

Her attacker came in from behind, a dark shape moving too quickly for her to prevent him from grabbing her - one arm around her waist and one around her neck.

 _So which arm's he going to use to snatch my purse?_ Not a dumb question, per se, but probably not the one she was supposed to be asking under the circumstances. _Fine. Let's say he has a friend to do the easy work._

She turned her head, exactly the way Oliver had told her, and then promptly froze, exactly the way Oliver had told her _not_ to. Her attacker gave her some time to un-freeze, which was very kind of him, if completely unnecessary.

Had she been inclined to offer helpful advise to muggers, she could have told him there was no un-freezing happening any time soon. Her body simply didn't seem to be wired for it.

"Felicity," Mr 'I Dress To Mug Young Ladies In Dark Alleys', known in daily life as Oliver Queen said.

"Sorry." _Can we just agree I'm no good at this?_ "Can we do that again?"

 

The problem, Felicity liked to think, wasn't that she wasn't ready to prove herself a modern, independent young woman capable of kicking anyone's ass for mistaking her for an easy victim.

The problem was that she knew it was Oliver. Half the time she worried about actually injuring him (superhuman archer or not, a good kick in the right place was still going to hurt him, to say nothing of getting a faceful of Mace) and the other half she ... didn't.

"Just stay calm," Oliver whispered in her ear. (Seriously, she could feel his breath. _There should be a law against this sort of thing._ ) "Remember what I told you to do."

The object she felt poking in her thigh was definitely his cellphone or something. _Not that_ that _makes me feel any better._

"Scream? I think screaming for help might work pretty well." Not that she thought she'd be able to manage a proper scream right now.

"You can't always expect other people to come and save you," Oliver said.

 _Thank you, Mr Emancipation._ "I can hope." _And I'm pretty sure I can count on you and Dig to do exactly that, actually._

"Let your body relax. Breathe."

_Gosh. Here I was, thinking I should just stop that. I mean, who needs air, anyway?_

Relaxing her body meant sagging back against Oliver's. Oliver's very lean and hard body. _This definitely shouldn't feel at all comfortable._ True, he was actually fully dressed - _for once, this time_ , but she could still feel what was under that shirt, or covered by those pants.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

 _Why, do people usually find it enjoyable to get grabbed from behind?_ A slightly tricky question, considering, but then, there were exceptions to every rule. Plus, she didn't so much enjoy the grabbing as the end result of that grabbing. Inasfar as she was enjoying any part of this.

"Yes?" she said, guessing that was what he wanted to hear. Besides, it wasn't untrue. It wasn't at all comfortable to be standing here quietly while what she really wanted to do was turn around and rip his clothes off. _If he asks me nicely, I suppose I could buy him dinner, first._ A girl had to eat, after all.

"Good." Oliver slightly tightened his grip. "Now, we've gone over this. It's not that hard."

 _Your cellphone feels plenty hard to me,_ she thought, except that she now remembered Oliver usually carried his phone higher up his body, so presumably, it was something else in his pocket.

 _Look, a distraction!_ She closed her eyes for a moment, to check that yup, that definitely made things worse. At least with her eyes open, she had other things to think about than Oliver.

"Take it slow," Oliver said. "I'm not going anywhere, and I'm not going to do anything."

 _I know. It's very frustrating._ She nodded. Sighing would only bring on another lecture about how this was Serious and Important Business.

"Determine my position. Am I alone? Am I armed?"

 _You're technically my boss, yes, and probably._ From what she'd seen, Oliver could be considered 'armed and dangerous' as long as he wasn't knocked unconscious or something along those lines.

"Then act," Oliver instructed. "Quickly. Decisively. Don't give me a chance to hurt you."

 _Too late,_ she thought, even if that wasn't entirely fair. It wasn't Oliver's fault he made her want to take him home and ravish him. Or let him ravish her. And she hadn't really been hurt. Yet.

 _You could ravish him right here and now,_ a treacherous little voice in the back of her head said.

"Pretty sure you're not going to hurt me," she said, out loud.

Oliver sighed. She felt his chest press against her back. "That's not the point, Felicity. Some day, you might run into someone who will."

 _So then I'll use my pepper spray. Or Dig's street fighting tips._ "So then you'll put an arrow in them."

Oliver didn't say he might not be around to do that. As far as signs went, that seemed a pretty hopeful one. "I just want to know you'll be safe," he said, and she thought: _boy, did you mess up, asking me to join you in taking on Starling City's bad guys_ , which was a valid point, really, even if it wasn't as if she went home fearing for her life or anything.

What she - what _they_ did here was still dangerous. As in: not safe.

"To know you can take care of yourself," Oliver amended, which was vaguely insulting, even if he probably didn't mean for it to be.

"Your concern for my health is noted and appreciated." _So maybe you could stop trying to act like a really slow mugger now._

Giving credit where credit was due: he released her. Slowly and with a certain reluctance that she probably shouldn't find at all flattering; most likely, it was just that he was annoyed about having to cut the lesson short before she'd properly knocked him on his ass, the way he'd wanted her to.

"Thank you," she said.

His expression was somewhere in between 'annoyed' and 'disappointed'. "Good night, Felicity. And ... good job today." By which he presumably meant everything she'd done until their impromptu self-defense lesson.

"Night, Oliver."

 

("I," Oliver declared, grabbing a bottle of beer from the bar, "am really, really bad at this.")

("Just wait until she's got you on the floor," Dig said. "Show her you've got a vulnerable side.")

("Hi, I'm weak enough for you to beat me up, please date me?")

("I've heard worse pick-up lines.")


End file.
